Allerton Waste Recovery Park permission granted

Artist's impression of the Allerton Waste Recovery Park

Waste management company AmeyCespa, has been granted planning permission for its proposed new waste treatment facility, the Allerton Waste Recovery Park, following an eight-hour meeting yesterday (30 October) with North Yorkshire County Council and local opposition groups.

The residual waste plant at Allerton Quarry, near Knaresborough, is expected to cost £1.4 billion over the next 25 years.

According to AmeyCespa, the park will have the capacity to treat up to 90 per cent, or 320,000 tonnes, of residual waste from York and North Yorkshire households and some from local shops and restaurants.

The thermal treatment facility within the plan is also expected to generate up to 24 megawatts (MW) of electricity a year, or enough energy from the incinerator to power 40,000 homes.

Along with £65 million of PFI funding from Defra, the deal with North Yorkshire County Council represents AmeyCespa’s first major waste contract win in the UK, said to be worth approximately £900 million. The plant is expected to create up to 400 new jobs during construction and 70 new full-time jobs during operation.

AmeyCespa, owned by Spanish corporation Grupo Ferrovial, plans to use three waste treatment processes in the new facility:

1)    Mechanical treatment to recover approximately 20,000 tonnes of recyclable materials from residual waste per annum

2)    Anaerobic digestion (AD) to treat food and organic waste to create renewable energy and a compost-like material for use on brownfield land

3)    Advanced thermal treatment to turn all remaining unrecyclable waste into gas for combustion to create electricity.

Bill Jarvis, Project Director at AmeyCespa said: “We are pleased the planning committee is minded to approve our proposals for Allerton Waste Recovery Park. The new facility is a common sense solution for dealing with North Yorkshire and York’s waste and will save local taxpayers millions of pounds. In addition, it will increase recycling, generate renewable electricity, create jobs and provide an economic boost for local suppliers.

“We will now ensure any remaining steps are completed, such as providing information to central government if it decides to review the application’s approval and finalising our contract with North Yorkshire County Council.  

“We aim to begin construction of the new facility in 2013, with it starting to process waste in 2015. During this time, we remain committed to working with the local community, involving them in our proposals and answering any questions they may have.”

North Yorkshire County Councillor Chris Metcalfe also welcomed the new waste management scheme, saying: “[This] marks the start of us being able to move away from landfilling our waste to a sustainable long term solution which generates green electricity. The contract with AmeyCespa will give us over £240 million in savings on the costs of doing nothing different with our waste – welcome news indeed in this time of severely reduced council budgets.”

Though hailed by many as environmentally and financially sustainable, over 10,000 local residents signed a petition in opposition to the proposal, which was delivered to the county council.

Protesters have denounced the waste management plans, calling the proposed plant ‘too big’ and designed to ‘burn more waste than is produced’ in North Yorkshire. Concerns about traffic congestion and property devaluing have also come up in discussions with the local community.

Bob Schofield from the North Yorkshire Waste Action Group says: "It will cost every taxpayer in North Yorkshire an enormous amount of money and there are far more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternatives."

The proposed project is now being passed to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles, to finalise the plans and decide on the next steps. It is not the first time that the Secretary of State has stepped in to review waste management plans; in August this year, he also took control of plans to build an incinerator in Kings Lynn. 

Schofield added that the North Yorkshire Waste Action Group plans to organise a public inquiry if the deal continues to go ahead as planned.

Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park

It has also been announced this week that AmeyCespa has been chosen as the preferred bidder to design, build and run a similar waste treatment park in Milton Keynes.

The proposed Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park, to be built in the Old Wolverton industrial area, aims to cut landfill use by 95 per cent.

Using the same waste treatment methods as proposed for Allerton - mechanical treatment, anaerobic digestion and thermal treatment– the Milton Keynes plant  will produce enough renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 11,000 homes.

According to the company,  around 200 new jobs will be created during the construction of the site, with a further 45 being made available once the plant is in use.

An on-site visitor and education centre will also be installed for use by schools and other members of the community.

Milton Keynes Councillor David Hopkins praised AmeyCespa’s proposed facility, calling it “an innovative long-term, value for money solution”.

Bill Jarvis, added: “Milton Keynes Council has taken a forward-looking and innovative approach to dealing with waste in order to deliver cost savings and environmental benefits for its residents.”

Planning application for the Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park will be submitted in 2013, following a consultation period.

Read more about the AmeyCespa’s Allerton Waste Recovery Park and Milton Keynes facility.